Elevator construction.



P. F. ELLMER 6L C. STREFF.

ELEVATOR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.2|.1917.

Patented Oct. 2, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

P. F. ELLMER & C. STREFF.

ELEVA'TOIR CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED rEB.21,1911.

1,241,724. Patented 001;.21917.

j f @d PAUL F. ELLMER AND CHARLES STREFF, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELEVATOR CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 2, 191 '7.

Application led February 21, 1917. j Serial No. 150,002.

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that we, PAUL F. ELLMER and Cnnnnns S'rnnrr, citizens of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention consists of improvements in elevator constructions, one of its objects be ing to provide means whereby the elevator car cannot be moved while the gate or door at a lfloor level is open.

Another object is to provide means whereby the opening movement of said gate or door will automatically operate to stop the movement of the car adjacent the level of the floor at which the gate is located.

Another object is to provide means whereby locking means for the door or gate can be actuated either from the elevator car or from a Hoor level.

A still further object is to provide mecha nism whereby said latter means can be oper'- ated only when the car has reached the floor level.

Another object is to so make the elements of our invention that they will be durable and of comparatively simple construction.

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be described hereinafter, we attain in the following manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which* Figure 1 is a front elevation of an elevator construction made in accordance with our invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation showing certain of the elements of our invention which are loc-ated adjacent the floor level of a building and drawn on a larger scale than illustrated in Fig. 1.

an elevator shaft or well One floor of the building is illustrated at l1, and a gate 5 is designed to close the space between the ioor level and the elevator well. This gate as illustrated is of the type used on freight elevators and is designed to be raised and lowered into position. The means for raising the gate consists of a rope G which is attached to the upper rail 7 and this rope passes over anti-friction rollers 8 and 9 mounted on a super-structure 10.

A weight 11 is suspended from the opposite end of the rope 6 and is heavier than the gate 5, so that said weight acts to automatically raise said gate if the latter is released in a manner hereinafter described.

The gate 5, at its bottom, has a depending bar 12 secured thereto, said bar having a notch 13 adjacent its lower end. This bar, when the gate is in its lower or closed position, moves between the side walls of a casing 14, said casing being secured to the floor 4L and forming a pivotal support and housing for a double ended locking lever 15. The locking lever 15 has a hooked upper end 16 designed to enter the notch 13 in the bar 12 and thereby retain said gate in a lower position against the action of the weight 11.

rThe locking lever 15 has extensions 17 and 1S thereon. The 'extension 17 is connected by a coiled spring 19 with a detent Q0, the latter being in the form of a projection on a lever Q1 which is pivoted at 22 within the casing 14.

The lever 21 hasl an end 23 which projects out of said casing 14, and has thereon an anti-friction roller 24. The end 23 of the lever Q1 is limited in its upward movement b v the side wall 9.5 of the casing 14, hence the spring 19 serves to normally keep the hooked end 1G of the locking lever 15 within the notch 13 of the bar 12 and to keep the detent in line with the extension 18 on said locking lever 15, so that with the levers in said position, the gate 5 will be positively locked.

The lower end of the locking lever 15 has a link 26 pivotally connected thereto, said link having an anti-friction roller 9.7 pivoted thereon within its length, the opposite end of said link being in pivotal connection with a hand operated lever 2S which is mounted on the floor 4.

The lever 28 cannot be operated while said levers 15 and 9.1 are in the positions above described as is obvious from the fact that stantially atthe oor level.

direction, the anti-friction roller 24, it will engage the latter and swing` the lever 21 into such position as to free the extension 18 of the locking lever 15 of the detent 20.

1t will be noted, however, that when said action takes placa-the car 29 will be sub- Furthermore, it will be noted the cam 30 does not move the locking lever out of locking engagement, but

lmerely permits the locking lever to be rocked either by themovement of the hand operated lever 28 or the-movement of a hand operated lever v31 on the car 29. This lever 31, at its lower end, is pivotally connected to a rod 32, the latter beingl slidable through a head 33 `which is freely rotatable in a cam f shoe 34, the latter being pivoted at 35 to the side 36 of the car 29.

The rod 32 at its free end is threaded and provided with a nut 37, and a coiled spring 38 is interposed between. the head 33 and the nut 37. Tf it is desired to release the gate 5 by a person on the car 29, the lever 3l is operated to move the cam shoe 34 in to such positionthat said cam shoe will move the .anti-friction roller 27 on the linkv26 in the direction of the length of said link.

,The arrangement'and location of the cam shoe 34 and the cam 30 should be such, that the cam 30 willl have `moved the lever 21 prior to the engagement of the cam shoe 34 with the anti-friction roller 27 so that when ,said cam shoe engages said roller 27, ther dretent 20 will have been moved out of alinement with the extension 18, thus permitting the rocking` movement of said lever 15. Hence, theE gate 5 can be released by the movement of either ofthe hand operated levers 28 or 31` when the car 29 .approaches the floor level. I

The raising of thergate 5 operates to automatically stop the car through the operation of the following mechanism i A dependingbracket 39 is secured to the super-structure 10 and has pivoted thereon a lever 40, the latter having a long end 41 and a relatively short end 42. This lever 40 is designed to be swung on yits pivot by the engagement therewith of a roller 43, the latter being carried by the upper rail 7 of the,v gate 5.

The, short end: 42 of the lever 40 hasa `hole 42a vtherein through which passes va lcable 44, the llatter running throughout the length vof theelevator well. The upperend of the cable 44 is vattached to a chain 45 which passes around a grooved pulley or sheave 46.

The chain 45 has one of its linlrsse'cured to the pulley 46 by means of a screw 47 or other suitable means. This pulley '46 is keyed to and rotatable with a shaft 48 hav` 4the shaftf48 is attached tomeans (not shown) for controlling the power by which the elevator is operated. 11i-'other words, the rotation of the pulley 46 by the cable 44 is such that it will rotate the 4shaft 48 to the same extent as it is necessary to rotate said shaft'by the movement of the cable 50 when it is desired 4to stop the elevator by the manual movement of said cable 5 0.

yIn order to` move the cable 44 asl above noted, we preferably provide a clamp 51 on said cable, said clamp being of greater width than the diameter ofthe hole 42a in the lever 40, so that when said lever 40 rocks on its pivot, the short end 42 thereof will engage the clamp 51 and thereby .pull .they

cable 44 to effect the stopping of the elevator car.

The cam shoe 34 and the cam 30 can be made of such lengths that they will release the locking means for the gate prior to the arrival of the car at the lioor level, however, it will be noted that it takes but a short time for the gate 5 to rise to leffect the stopping of the elevator, so that the time elapsing between the release ofthe locking means and the arrival of the car at the floor level willv be sufficient to permity the up,- ward movement of the gate andthe actuation of the means whereby the car isv stopped.

It will be noted that whenthe-'gate is raised, it will be impossible to start the-car in view of the fact that the cable 44 Vwill hold the pulley 46, andconsequently the shaft 48 against rotation. Therefore, in order to start the car it is necessary to manually lower the gate 5 to release the clamp 51 from engagement with the end 42 of the lever 40. The cable 50 can then be operated in the customary manner to effect the rotationfof the shaft 48` and thereby start themovement of the car 29. f

Vhile we 'have described but vone floor andone gate and the elements operativek to locksaid gate, it will bel noted that our improved elevator can be installed. in buildings having any number vof fioors, since the mechanism will operate similarly in connection with the gate at any licor level.

lWhile Vwe have described our invention? as `come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having `thus described our invention, what We claim as ne1 and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. The combination in an elevator construction, of a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gate, a car, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on said gate for engagement with the locking lever, a

detent on said detent lever designed to normally prevent movement of said locking lever, means on said car for actuating said detent lever to movethe detent out of the path of movement of said locking lever, a casing inclosing said levers and including a Wall having an opening therein through which a portion of said detent lever extends,

said Wall forming means for limiting the movement of said detent lever in one direction, and a spring connecting said locking lever and the detent lever vwhereby the detent lever isv held in engagement wit-h said Wall and the locking lever is moved toward said means on the gate, substantially as described.

2. The combination in an elevator construction, of a movable gate, a car, means for normally locking the gatein its closed position and including a detent for preventing movement of said locking means, means operative to move said locking means when the detent has been moved out ot' operative position, means operated through the medium ot movement of said car for moving the detent into an inoperative position, means operative by the opening movement of said gate to stop said car, and means 'tor automatically moving said gate to its open position, substantially as described.

3. The combination in an elevator construction, of a movable gate, a car, means for normally locking the gate in its closed position and including a detent for preventing movement o't' said locking means, means operative to move said locking means when the detent has been moved out of operative position, means carried by the ear for moving said detent, means carried by the car for moving the locking means into an inoperative position, and means for automatically opening said gate `when the locking means is moved into said inoperative position, substantially as described.

4. The combination in an elevator construction, of a movable gate, a car, means 'for normally locking the gate in its closed position and including a detent for preventing movement of said locking means, means operative to move said locking means when the detent has been moved out of operative position, means carried by the car for moving said detent, means carried by the car for moving the locking means into an inoperative position, means for automatically opening said gate when the locking means is moved into said inoperative position, and means operated by said gate during its opening movement to efect the stopping of the car, substantially as described.

5. The combination in an elevator construction, of a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gate, a car, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on said gate for engagement with the locking lever, a detent on said detent lever designed to normally prevent movement of said locking lever, means on said car Yfor actuatinfr said detent lever to move the detent out oia the path of movement of said locking lever, and means on said car for moving said locking lever into an inoperative position to release said gate, substantially as described.

6. The combination in an elevator construction, of a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gate, a car, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on said gate for engagement with the locking lever, a detent on said detent lever designed to normally prevent movement of said locking lever, means on said car for actuating said detent lever to move the detent out of the path of movement of said locking lever, means on said car for moving said locking lever into an inoperative position to release said gate, means for moving said gate to an open position, and means operative by the opening movement oit said gate to effect the stopping ot' the ear, substantially as described.

7. The combination in an elevator construction, of a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gat-e, a ear, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on said gate -for engagement with the locking lever, a detent on. said detent lever designed to normally prevent movement of said locking lever, means on said car for actuating said detent lever to move the detent out of the path of movement ot said locking lever, and means adjacent said floor for moving said locking lever into its inoperative position, substantially as described.

8. The combination in an elevator construction, of a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gate, a car, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on said gate for engagement with the locking lever, a detent on said detent lever designed to normally prevent movement of said lookin lever, means on said car for actuating sai( detent lever to move the detent out ot' the path of movement of said locking lever,

vmeans adjacent said Hoor for inoving said and means on said car foi-'moving' said locking lever into its inoperative position, substantially as I described.

9. The combination in an elevator construction, of a supporting structure vincluding a floor, a movable gate, a car, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on said gate for engagement With the locking lever, a detent on said detent leverfdesigned to normally prevent movement of vsaid locking lever, means on'said car'for :actuating said detent lever to movey the detent out ofthe 'path of movementof said looking lever, means -ladjacent said floor fori'moving said locking lever into its inoperative position, means `for 'automatically moving said gate into its open position, and means operated bythe opening movement otsaidgate to effect' the stopping of the car, substantially as described. K

10. The combination in an elevator construction, of `a supporting structure including a iioor, a movable gate, a car, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on'said gate'for engagementv With the locking lever, a detent on said detent lever designed to normally prevent movement of saidlocking lever,'ineans onsaid car for' actuating said detent lever to move the `detent out ofthe path of movement of said ylocking lever, means adjacentsaid floor for moving said locking lever intoits inoperative position, means on said carter movingI said locking lever into its inoperative position, means for automatically moving said gate-into its open position, and means operated by the opening movement of said gate to eiect the stopping of the car, substantially as described.

11. The combination in an elevator con'- struction, of a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gate, a ear, a locking lever, a vdetent lever, means on said gate for engagement with the locking lever, a detent on said detent lever designed to normally prevent movement ot said llockinglever, means on said carfor actuating said detent lever to move the detent outofthe path of movement of said locking lever, meansI for limitingl the movement oit ysaid detent lever in one direction, a spring connecting Ysaid locking lever and the detent lever whereby the detent'lever is yheld in engagement with said limiting` `means and the locking lever is p moved toward said means on'the gate, and means for moving sai(7 locking'leverio'free said means on the gate, substantially as described.

12. 'The' combination in anelevator construction, of asupporting structure including'afioor, a movable' gate, av car, 'alocking leveiga detent levenmeans onsai'd 'gatefor locking lever,

i igea-1,724

engagement with the locking lever, a detent'onsaid detentlever designed to normally preventniovement of said locking-le ver, means on said car for actuating said a handoperated lever connectedto -said link whereby the locking lever can be manually moved into an inoperative position, substantiallyas described.

18. The combinationin an elevator construction, of a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gate,a'car, a locking lever, a detent lever, means on'saidA gate for engagement With the lockingleven a detent on said detent lever designed to normallyv prevent movement "of *said looking lever, means onl said car for actuating said detent lever' to move the detent out of the y'path 'of movement of said locking-lever, a link connected'to saidlocking lever,'a vhand 'operated lever connected to said link whereby the locking lever can be manually moved intoy an iiioperative position, a cam shoe on said lcar operative to automatically move said locking lever into an inoperative position afterfthe detenthas been'moved ont of alinement therewith, substantially kas described.

14. The'combination in an elevator construction, oi" a supporting structure including a floor, a movable gate, Va car, 'a a detent lever, meansY on said gate for engagement with the locking lever,a detent on said detent lever designed. tofnormally prevent'movement of said lockingV lever, means on said car for'aotuating said detent lever to move'the 'detent out offthe path' of movement of said lockingflever, a link connectedV to said locking lever, vafhaiid operated lever connected to saidv link Wherebythe locking vlever can be manually moved into an inoperative position, an vanti-friction roller carried byY said link, a cam shoe movably mounted on said car and normally out ofthe path of said anti-friction roller, and means for moving said shoe into the path ot' said anti-.friction roller whereby the locking leveris automatically movedlinto an inoperative position tojfree the gate, means for automatically opening the gate When thus freed, and means operated bv" the opening `movement of said gate lto effect the stopping of the car, substantially-as'described.

15. The combination in an' elevator construction, of av gate, 'means ftor normally locking the gate iu Ya"closedjposition, a car, means' operative to' effect ymovement ofthe carr, means for'movingsaidlocking means into' an inoperati've'position to free the` gate, means for automatically raising the 'gate vvhenV thus freed, .a cablemovablei to y".'el'fect the stopping of said car, and a lever movable by the opening movement of said grate and operative to move said cable to effect the stopping movement ot' the car, substantiallv as described.

16. The combination in an elevator construction, of a gate, means for normally locking' the gate in a closed position, a car, means operative to ei'ect movement of the car, means for moving said locking means into an inoperative position to free the gate, means for automatically raising' the gate when thus freed, a cable movable to effect the stopping of said car, and a lever having a hole therein through which said cable passes, means movable in conjunction with said cable and of larger cross section than the cross section of said hole in the lever, said lever being' movable by said gate to actuate said means on the cable, whereby the latter is moved to etl'ect the stopping of the car, substantially as described.

17. The combination in an elevator construction, of a gate, means for normally locking the ,frate in a closed position, a car,

able by the openino movement et said gate and operative to move said cable to actu-ate said pulley through the medium of Said flexible device and thereby effect the stopping4 of the car, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofl we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribii'lg witnesses.

PAUL F. ELLMER. CHARLES STREFF.

Witnesses:

CIIAs. E. Por'rs, E. l). ALLEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

